That is "Plum" Silly!

   After our "winter" last month, spring came in a hurry.  Our four day cold spell led to a bunch of confused plants and critters...me included.  The weather staying below freezing for four days (and nights) straight was almost unheard of around here.  Once it warmed again, we immediately went to spring with birds nesting, frogs serenading and plants blooming.  My brain can not wrap around the fact that essentially...we are still in winter.

  While the citrus trees in full bloom is concerning, one plum tree has gone whacko.  I was out cleaning the Frog Pond when I saw something that "just shouldn't be".  There dangling from one of the branches of the plum tree was a nice sized fruit.  It is still green and has a lot of growing to do before being deemed fit to pick but there is a plum...a single plum...no buds, no blooms, no leaves...just a single plum.  It is nonsensical to even consider.  It is March!  How did the tree decide to set one plum?  What possessed it to produce just a solitary bloom in the first place?  Oh, Mother Nature!  You are messing with my brain!

One Day...Four Seasons

   Sometimes, Mother Nature just cannot make up her mind.  She, like so many of us, can be described as downright fickle!  Frosty one day, hot the next seems to be the norm now.  I am ok with that but, my goodness, Mother Nature, don't go smacking the seasons totally together!  That just gets far too confusing for everyone!

  Early this morning, I wandered through the gardens only to wind up behind the greenhouses.  Being as this area is sheltered from the north wind, I had left the potted lemon trees on the little back deck with good intentions of finally getting them transplanted in the ground.  Since the other citrus trees fare well during our winters, I figured there was not much use in lugging the huge pots into the greenhouse.  The trees did well and I was fully surprised to see new growth and large buds on the branches!  Whoa!  Hold on, Lemon Trees!  It is not spring yet!  The trees begged to differ, however.  As I looked, I began to notice more and more buds on all four lemon trees.  Well, if a late freeze does come, I suppose I shall be hauling the trees into the greenhouse after all just to try to save the blooms.  Mother Nature!  You sure are pushing it!  I shook my head in disbelief.

  Turning back toward the garden, a flash of red caught my eye.  Oh, my!  Just a few steps before, it was spring!  Now, it is fall!  Yep, one of the Sweetgum trees was in its glory with red leaves!  The bright red leaves brought some much needed color to the yard but that poor tree must totally be confused!  The small tree stuck out like a sore thumb among all the drab of winter.  

 Huh?  Wait!  It IS supposed to be winter!  Fall was several months ago!  Come on, Mother Nature!  Really?  Spring and fall right in the middle of winter?  My thoughts were jumbled.  I was trying to wrap my head around what was happening here as I slapped a mosquito that was buzzing around my ear.  Mosquito???  Oh, no....summer, too?  Mother Nature!  This is too much!  Stop it!  *Just as an added note...our temperatures reached nigh on 80 degrees this afternoon but are supposed to plummet into the 30s tonight.  Crazy!

It Is NOT Spring!

  Our winter has not been.  We are sitting at about 70 degrees here tonight and each day has been much the same.  We do have the occasional dip in the temperatures which puts us down into the 30s but those times have been far apart.  This unusually warm time has most of the critters around the Bayou in a state of confusion.  Birds are nesting, fur bearing critters are shedding their winter coats and snakes are out and about.  Today, I saw evidence of another bit of wannabe spring.  

  I opened the front door to be engulfed in a huge swarm of flying ants.  Ugh!  I immediately stepped back indoors, shut the doors tightly and raced to get the bug spray.  As much as I hate to use chemicals around the place, sometimes it is a necessity.  This was one of those times.  The ants were swarming on the east side of the house and were being wafted by the breeze right onto the french doors.  I do not need a swarm of ants inside the house!  My efforts killed a few but Mother Nature came to the rescue after a short while.

  Ants swarm during mating season and that should be anywhere from late spring until mid summer.  It should not be in January!  The ants supposedly need bright sunshine, little wind and warm temperatures.  They also prefer to swarm after several days of rain.  Well, that pretty much describes what has been happening around here lately.  That sunshine was a short lived thing, however.  Soon after I found the ants, a thunderstorm rolled through and then a heavy fog set in for the evening.  The ants may have been sorry that they were so hasty about swarming.  That rainstorm probably killed a good many of those wanting to start a new colony.  Way to go, Mother Nature!  Good job!  While we did not need more rain, that rainstorm was perfect timing!   

Confusing...To Say The Least

  Early this morning, I headed to the pier to catch the sunrise.  While I am always enamored by the view as the sun starts to peep over the pines, this morning was a bit different.  It almost appeared as if somehow during the night, our place was magically shifted to be a bit closer to the casino across the Bay.  In fact, that thing appeared to be looming overhead like some huge, lurking monster!  How in the world?   Even though I have a zoom lens on my old camera, it is difficult to get a good shot of the opposite side of the Bayou much less be able to read the signs on a building miles away.  In fact, road-wise, the casino sits almost four miles away...as the crow flies, it is closer at nigh on three miles.   This morning, however, the casino seemed a mere stone's throw away.   This is NOT good!  I do not want a casino in my backyard!  (Even if it is miles away!)

  Imagining that the casino had magically moved nearer was a bit unsettling so I turned my attention to the only critter in sight.  A small grebe paddled happily in the calm waters.  I tried photographing the little bird but had no luck making it magically appear closer like that ominous building!  The little grebe stayed far out of range even though it was only fifty feet away.  I am still bewildered about the building, the grebe and my photography skills.  It was a confusing morning, to say the least!

 
 

 

Mysteries Abound!

  Meandering about the hillside, you just never know what you may find.  What was not there yesterday can easily pop up today.  That is what makes hiking interesting.  The small oddities that seemingly appear out of thin air get you to asking how?  And why?  And where?  Some of the finds are pretty but others are creepy.  Then, there are those that are downright confusing.

  The hike this afternoon led me down behind the greenhouse where there is a large black gum tree that has seen better days.  The tree has been battered by many hurricanes and has the battle scars to prove it.  Some of those scars left gaping holes.  Many critters take advantage of the holes to provide housing for their little ones.  Nests are built inside the holes and are usually lined with leaves and soft grasses.  Today, however, it was in one of those holes, way up in the top of the tree, that my bewildering find was made.  

  About thirty feet up the tree, there is a hole that obviously houses a critter of some sort.  I could see that the hole has been recently occupied because a tumble of contents was extending beyond the opening.  It was one of those "contents" that left me scratching my head.  Slightly protruding from the "door" of the nest was a plastic water bottle.  How in the world did the critter get that bottle up in the tree?  Why in the world would it want a plastic bottle in its nest?  And...what type critter would even consider the idea of toting it all the way up there?  It was baffling,  to say the least, but there it was.

  I have yet to figure out this latest "Mystery of the Bayou" but I am intrigued enough to keep watch on the hole.  Perhaps one day, I will spy the critter and, at least, answer the "who" question.  Some critter has a lot of determination, that is for sure!

Alrighty Then....

  Mr. PJ, the old dog, has been feeling downright poorly for the past few months.  As matter of fact, I was quite worried and still am.  He had bouts of congestion, aches and pains and fatigue.  My poor old buddy was ailing.  After poking him full of just about every known medication in the world (yes, extreme exaggeration there), he showed no signs of improvement. It was disheartening, to say the least.

  Late this evening after he was all settled in for the night, he suddenly stood up and stared at me.  I talked with him a bit and patted his head.  It did nothing to appease him.  He stood.  He stared.  Well, that was a bit unnerving.  I decided that perhaps he would like a treat.  Since the vet put Mr. PJ on a diet, I looked at my list of fruits and chose a banana.  I ate most of it but gave the dog several chunks.  Then he started eyeing my drink. Well...I checked and, yes, he could have pineapple juice.  My well-meaning intentions did not go over so well, however.  I poured about a tablespoon of the juice into his food bowl and waited.  Mr. PJ loves to eat.  Anything that hits that bowl is his and he quickly devours it.  Anything except pineapple juice, obviously.   He took one lap with his tongue and his head jerked up.  He gave me the oddest look as if to say, "What is that junk?  How can you drink it?"  I giggled, quickly took the bowl away and gave him a treat instead.  That did it.  Mr. PJ promptly walked to the door and waited to go outside.  I obliged but, since it was cold, refused to go down the hill.  He would just have to be satisfied with a short walk.  

  Once we were back inside, the old dog had more energy than I have seen in him for months.  He nudged me to keep walking around inside.  Well, maybe he needed exercise?  So we made loops around the furniture in the living room. This soon turned into a game with him trying to "catch" me.  He would dodge this way and that trying to confuse me.  Goodness!  He has not played in a year!  Then, when he cornered me, he tried to grab the hem of my jacket to play tug-o-war.  Oh, no!  The vet had already banned that game.  I tried to get my jacket back and Mr. PJ did his play barking!  WHAT??  He has not barked (even at strangers) in six months!  This was different!  I tried to calm him by distracting him.  We walked to the kitchen where he hurriedly cleaned the floor of all crumbs and extra cat food.  This, too, was something he has not done in a long time.  In fact, he has not done much of anything for a long, long time.  What was up tonight?  After our interesting playtime, Son took the old dog out for yet another outing.  This time, they went all the way down the hill where Mr. PJ wished to traipse in the marsh.  Thankfully, Son had the foresight to leash the old fellow before beginning the walk so there was no marsh tromping.  A half hour later, they came back inside but Mr. PJ's energy was not expended, as of yet.  More circling the furniture and cleaning the floors.  Afterward, he spied the cat.  He tried to get a good game of chase going with Ms. Nycto but she was having no part of it.  

  All of this is a bit confusing.  One part of me is in hopes that it is a sign that he is finally getting well.  Another, more disturbing side, has a nagging feeling that perhaps he needed one more day of being a puppy.  Hopefully, the first is true and there will be many, many more days of puppy-like feelings.  He and I both so enjoyed our evening....even with the foul-tasting pineapple juice incident!  I will say a little prayer that he is on the mend.

They are confused

  Things can get in a turmoil when get they get toppled.  A bit of discombobulation throws everything into a tizzy.  Our one day of winter, has the trees so confused that some are starting to bud.  Yep.  One day of winter is all it took.  The temperatures dipped to freezing overnight but by this afternoon, the bright sunshine made the trees think spring has sprung.  

  I was out clearing the garden space and pruning back some of the fruit trees but when I came to the peach trees, I was flabbergasted!  Those goofy things were setting buds and a few blooms had already opened.  Well, I have news for them!  According to the weather people, it is going to get cold here again in a couple of days.  I sure hope those peach blossoms have winter coats otherwise there will be no peaches come summertime.

  Weather here on the Bayou can go from one extreme to the other in a matter of hours.  While we do not have the frigid temperatures nor the mountains of snow, we do get "cold spells".  These, however, never last long and we go back to nigh on summertime.  I get confused so it is no wonder that the plants do the same.  Hang on there, peach trees!  Winter ain't over yet!  You are going to be shaking in your boots and there is nothing I can do to help you!

Its all in how you look at things...

  Sometimes life is a bit hectic and confusing.  It all gets sort of muddled up so that you just do not know which way is up.  It is times like this that it pays to step back and look at things a bit differently.  With the Clue Hunt on the Bayou in full swing now, my time is pretty limited for any other activities.  Days are spent in preparation of the next team to come to the Bayou to try their luck at solving the mysteries that abound here.  Son and I have worked long and hard to make their visit enjoyable but I miss having time to wander the hillside with the old dog.

  This morning, Mr. PJ stared at me with those big brown eyes and I knew that I had been too busy to spend much time with him.  Yep, dog, lets go for a hike.  I figured a quick hike around the place could not take too much time out of my schedule.  As we were rounding the back garden area, I noticed one area that was filled with weeds.  Knowing that I did not have time to get out there and tidy the garden worried me a bit.  I fretted over the mess until I really started to look at it.  The goldenrod were sure bright and yellow!  Wow, look how the wild ageratums' purple blooms contrasted so nicely with that yellow.  And, in the back, the wild chives' seed pods added a nice texture to the melange.  Throw in an old fence post and the whole weedy mess suddenly became a quaint, forgotten garden.  Not bad.  

  Once I looked beyond the muddled mess of weeds, I began to see the garden.  Hidden in plain sight was a thing of beauty if it was only seen correctly.   I pondered over that and compared it to the confusion that was going on at the Little Bayou House these past few weeks.  It occurred to me that in all of that hubbub, there was also a lot of smiles and happiness.  It could not be all bad.  Like that weedy mess that suddenly became a lovely, natural garden, all of the perplexity of the past few weeks just needed to be looked at in a different manner.  Its all good.  Its not for everyone...but neither is my strange, little "natural" garden.  You just have to look beyond what the eye sees.